Sailing and in particular windsurfing is becoming a very popular sport, attracting more participants every year. Windsurfing is truly an individual sport which is very enjoyable. However, even the most skillful windsurfer can be overcome by weather conditions. Also, there are a number of situations while windsurfing where there exists the threat of accidental injury due to, for instance, collisions among windsurfers or between windsurfers and other watercrafts, or even between windsurfers and swimmers. In some reported cases, collisions with other watercraft resulted in severe injuries and even death to windsurfers.
Common situations when such incidents occur are, for example, when windsurfers are sailing in an area with heavy watercraft traffic such as a harbor, bay or a small lake during a weekend. The windsurfer observes a watercraft approaching at high speed. If the windsurfer is not able to react fast enough and move from the watercraft's path, and the driver of the watercraft does not observe the windsurfer, then it is almost impossible to avoid collision between the two.
Another situation is when a windsurfer, exhausted by strong wind blowing from shore cannot operate the windsurfing apparatus properly to bring him safely back to shore. This windsurfer may then suffer severe dehydration and sunburns.
So far there have been no proposed devices to assist windsurfers in such situations. The purpose of this invention is to provide windsurfers with an easy and convenient means for warning that can be used in potentially dangerous situations or conditions.
The invention preferably uses horns or whistles operated by pressurized gas. Horns operated by pressurized gas have two main advantages, loudness and insensitivity to the operational conditions, particularly water exposure. Loudness of the sound blasts generated by the compressed gas powered horns makes these devices ideal for outdoor conditions such as large open spaces found on water surfaces. Also loudness and the number of sound blasts are not affected by operational conditions such as temperature.